Systems and Methods for Heating and Cooling a Facility

ABSTRACT

Improved systems for heating and cooling a space may include a heating and cooling unit for providing heating and cooling functions mounted inside a housing assembly and a display unit mounted to the housing assembly. A control unit may be coupled to the heating and cooling unit and the display unit. The control unit may be operative to cause an image or video associated with heat be displayed on the display unit when the heating and cooling unit is in the heating mode of operation and to cause an image or video associated with coolness be displayed on the display unit when the heating and cooling unit is in the cooling mode of operation. The control unit may be coupled to a server that enables remotes operation of the system via a client application. Other implementations also may be provided.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Technical Field

The present application relates to systems and methods for heating andcooling a facility, and more particularly, to systems and methods forproviding a free-standing units that provide ambiance while heating andcooling a facility.

2. Related Art

Ever since man discovered and learned to control fire hundreds ofthousands of years ago, he has used it to heat his home. While fire isgreat for instantly heating a location, it also is inefficient anddangerous. Wood burning fireplaces are difficult and expense to install,requiring extensive venting and/or a chimney. They also can cause carbonmonoxide poisoning and possibly lead to a fire that decimates orcompletely destroys the facility. Similarly, propane burners also arecostly to install and are inefficient and difficult to regulate.

To overcome some of these problems, central air conditioning and heatingsystems where developed. While these types of systems offer whole-houseor large-commercial-space cooling, they also are expensive to installand inefficient. In a typical system, a heat-exchanger is typicallyplaced inside the central furnace/AC unit of the forced air heatingsystem. Central air and heating systems require extensive ductwork thatmust be run through the facility to direct air to the target areas.These ducts are not only expensive, they also are inefficient; it isestimated that about 27% of every dollar spent on heating or cooling airis lost in the ductwork.

Accordingly, a need has long existed for improved systems and methodsfor heating and cooling a space.

SUMMARY

Improved systems for heating and cooling a space may include a heatingand cooling unit for providing heating and cooling functions mountedinside a housing assembly and a display unit mounted to the housingassembly. A control unit may be coupled to the heating and cooling unitand the display unit. The control unit may be operative to cause animage or video associated with heat be displayed on the display unitwhen the heating and cooling unit is in the heating mode of operationand to cause an image or video associated with coolness be displayed onthe display unit when the heating and cooling unit is in the coolingmode of operation. The control unit may be coupled to a server thatenables remotes operation of the system via a client application.

Other systems, methods, features, and technical advantages of theinvention will be, or will become apparent to one with skill in the artupon examination of the following figures and detailed description. Itis intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, andtechnical advantages be included within this description, be within thescope of the invention, and be protected by the following claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention can be better understood with reference to the followingdrawings and description. The components in the figures are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustratingthe principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an exemplary a free-standing heatingand cooling system;

FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the exemplary free-standing heating andcooling system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows side cutaway view of the exemplary free-standing heatingand cooling system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4a shows a perspective view of an exemplary free-standing heatingand cooling system in a first assembly position;

FIG. 4b shows a perspective view of an exemplary free-standing heatingand cooling system in an assembled positon with the back panel removed;

FIG. 5a shows a perspective view of a duct for use in the exemplaryfree-standing heating and cooling system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5b shows another perspective view of a duct for use in theexemplary free-standing heating and cooling system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary physical architecture for an exemplary controlunit for use in the exemplary free-standing heating and cooling systemof FIG. 1;

FIG. 7a shows an exemplary power circuit for use with a 110 AC powersupply and the exemplary free-standing heating and cooling system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 7b shows an exemplary power circuit for use with a 220 AC powersupply and the exemplary free-standing heating and cooling system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary input/output panel for use in the exemplaryfree-standing heating and cooling system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary physical architecture for a system in whichthe exemplary free-standing heating and cooling system of FIG. 1 mayinteroperate with exemplary controller devices;

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary logical architecture for a server for usewith the exemplary free-standing heating and cooling system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary flow chart for a product registrationsprocess for the exemplary free-standing heating and cooling system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary screen shot of a product portal page for usewith the exemplary free-standing heating and cooling system of FIG. 1

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary physical architecture for an exemplary remotecontrol unit for use in the exemplary free-standing heating and coolingsystem of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 14a-14e show exemplary screen shots of an exemplary remote controlunit for use with the exemplary free-standing heating and cooling systemof FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 shows an exemplary flow chart for a process for requestingproduct support for the exemplary free-standing heating and coolingsystem of FIG. 1;

FIG. 16 shows an exemplary screen shot of a list of product supporttickets for exemplary free-standing heating and cooling system of FIG.1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The elements illustrated in the Figures interoperate as explained inmore detail below. Before setting forth the detailed explanation,however, it is noted that all of the discussion below, regardless of theparticular implementation being described, is exemplary in nature,rather than limiting.

Free-Standing Heating and Cooling System Overview

Referring initially to FIGS. 1a-b and 2, perspective and exploded viewsof an exemplary a free-standing heating and cooling system 100 is shown.Only relevant portions of the system 100 are shown; other portions arewell known to those skilled in the art and are not discussed herein forsake of clarity. The system 100 may include a housing assembly 110, aheating and cooling unit 140, a display unit 150 and a control unit 200.The heating and cooling unit 140 may be mounted either partially orcompletely inside the housing assembly 110 and the display unit 150 maybe mounted either internally or externally on the housing assembly 110.The heating and cooling unit 140 may function to heat and/or cool aspace or facility.

The control unit 200 may be coupled to, be in communication with and/ordirect the operation of the heating and cooling unit 140. The controlunit 200 also may be coupled to, be in communication with and direct theoperation of the display unit 150. For example, the control unit 200 maycause the display unit 150 to show images and/or play audiocorresponding to a detected mode of operation of the heating and coolingunit, such as an audio-visual representation of a fire or similar imageassociated with heat when the heating and cooling unit 140 is operatingin a heating mode of operation (as shown in FIG. 1B) or an audio-visualrepresentation of a waterfall or other images/video associated withcoolness or cold when the heating and cooling unit 140 is operating in acooling mode of operation (as shown in FIG. 1A). For example, imagesand/or video that are associated with heat may include images and/orvideo of a fire, the sun, lava, volcanos, steam, thermometers and thelike. Similarly, images and/or video that are associated with coolnessmay include images and/or video of water, ice, snow, thermometers andthe like. Other images also may be used to convey imagery associatedwith the heating and/or cooling mode of operation.

The images and/or video may be stored and retrieved from memory suchflash drives coupled to the control unit 200 and/or display unit 150,streamed from the Internet through the control unit 200 and/or displayunit 150, from any electronic device (such as a DVD/CD player, gamingconsole, tablet, smart phones, and the like) that may be connected tothe control unit 200 and/or display unit 150 through the input/outputpanel 250, and the like.

Exemplary Housing Assemblies

Referring to FIG. 2, an exploded view of the exemplary free-standingheating and cooling system of FIGS. 1a -b. The housing assembly 110 mayinclude a top portion 113, two side portions 111 a and 111 b, a frontportion 115, a base portion 120 and a back portion 130. In someembodiments, the top portion 113, side portions 111 a and 111 b andfront portion 115 may be pre-assembled as a single unit 101 and the baseportion 120 and back portion 130 may be pre-assembled as a second unit102 for ease of installation, as described below in connection withFIGS. 4a and 4 b.

The assembly 110 also may include a mounting shelf 142 upon which theheating and cooling unit 140 may be mounted by brackets, screws and thelike. Other mounting methods also may be used. The mounting shelf 142may be coupled to any or all of the front portion 115, the back portion130, and the side portions 111 a-b. In some embodiments, the mountingshelf 142 and heating and cooling unit 140 may be assembled in aconfiguration that provides clearance between the side portions 111 a-band the heating and cooling unit 140 of between about 2 inches and about12 inches, preferably between about 3 inches and about 10 inches, evenmore preferably between about 5 inches and about 7 inches and in someembodiments about 6 inches. Similarly, in some embodiments, the mountingshelf 142 and heating and cooling unit 140 may be assembled in aconfiguration that provides clearance between the top portion 113 andthe heating and cooling unit 140 of between about 2 inches and about 12inches, preferably between about 2 inches and about 8 inches, even morepreferably between about 3 inches and about 6 inches and in someembodiments about 4 inches.

The front portion 115 may include an aperture 114 in which a front vent160 may be mounted. Duct 144 may be coupled to the heating and coolingunit 140 to direct airflow from the heating and cooling unit 140 throughthe front vent 160. Duct 144 is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 5a -b.Similarly, side portions 111 a-b may include apertures 112 a-b forreceiving filter bracket or jamb 164 a-b that may hold air filters 163a-b and to which side vents 162 a-b may be coupled. In some embodiments,side vents 162 a-b may be pivotably coupled to the jambs 164 a-b.

In some embodiments, the housing assembly 110 may include a decorativefaçade 108. The decorative façade 108 may provide improved aestheticsfor the system 100. For example, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG.1a -b, the housing assembly 110 and decorative façade 108 provide theappearance of a fireplace, such as stone and wood fireplace. Exemplarydecorative facades 108 may include stones, bricks, tiles, glass, wood,marble, copper and the like. In some embodiments, the façade 108 may beremovably attached to the housing assembly 110 such as, for example, bywood screws. In this manner, various facades 108 may be interchangeableto allow a user to change the appearance of the assembly 110 as desired.In various embodiments, the housing assembly 110 and/or façade 108 mayprovide the appearance and/or functionality of an armoire, dresser,bookcase, entertainment center and the like.

When assembled, exemplary housings 110 may be between about 30 inchesand about 96 feet tall, preferably between about 36 inches and about 75inches tall, even more preferably between about 40 inches and about 60inches tall, and in some embodiments about 54 inches tall. Exemplaryassembled housings 110 may be between about 30 inches and about 96 feetwide, preferably between about 36 inches and about 75 inches wide, evenmore preferably between about 40 inches and about 60 inches wide, and insome embodiments about 54 inches wide. Exemplary assembled housings 110may be between about 9 inches and about 36 feet deep, preferably betweenabout 10 inches and about 24 inches deep, even more preferably betweenabout 11 inches and about 18 inches deep, and in some embodiments about14 inches deep. For example, in various embodiments, the housingassembly 110 may be about 30 inches tall by about 30 inches wide byabout 9 inches deep, about 40 inches tall by about 40 inches wide byabout 11 inches deep, and about 54 inches tall by about 54 inches wideby about 14 inches deep. Other dimensions may be used.

The various components of the housing assembly 110 may be made of anysuitable material, such as wood, metal, stone, brick, laminate, foam,plastic or the like. Other materials also may be used. In someembodiments, each component is made of the same material. Alternativelyor additionally, one or more of the components of the housing assembly110 may be made of different material than others of the components.Other materials also may be used.

In some embodiments, front vent 160 is made of plastic and duct 144 ismade of foam to avoid condensation that may result when metal is used.Filters 163 a-b may be made of any type of filter material. In someembodiments, filters 163 a-b may comprise dual-ply Dustlok® Mediaprovided by Fiberbond of Michigan City, Ind. Other materials also may beused.

Exemplary Assembling of the Housing Assembly 110

Referring to FIGS. 4a -b, perspective views of an exemplaryfree-standing heating and cooling system 100 are shown in a firstassembly position (FIG. 4a ) and in an assembled positon with the backpanel removed for visibility (FIG. 4b ). In the illustrated embodiment,In some embodiments, the top portion 113, side portions 111 a and 111 band front portion 115 may be pre-assembled as a first unit 101 and thebase portion 120 and back portion 130 may be pre-assembled as a secondunit 102. The housing assembly 110 may include complimentary sets ofmounting members 117 a-d and 132 a-d (also shown in FIG. 3) may beprovided on the first unit 101 and second unit 102, respectively, tocouple the first unit and the second unit. The mounting members mayinclude complimentary shapes that engage one another for ease ofalignment and installation. For example, in the embodiment shown inFIGS. 3 and 4 a-b, mounting members 132 a-d include a wedge-shaped upperportion that the wedge-shaped cavity of the lower portion of mountingmembers 117 a-d may engage. As a result, the first unit 101 and secondunit 102 may be easily assembled or disassembled as needed.Alternatively, or additionally, mounting members 117 a-d and 132 a-d mayuse other complimentary shapes, such as curves, teeth and the like.

Exemplary Heating and Cooling Units

The heating and cooling unit 140 may be any type of system that mayprovide both heating and cooling functionality. Exemplary heating andcooling units 140 may provide heating and cooling at ranges betweenabout 9000 British Thermal Units (BTUs) and about 24,0000 BTU or more.In some embodiments, the heating and cooling unit 140 may be amini-split unit. A mini-split unit generally refers to a heating andcooling device having a DC compressor installed on the exterior of abuilding that may allow either heating or cooling of air and may be usedin conjunction with a unit on the interior of the building. Exemplaryheating and cooling units 140 include mini split units such as the 9,000btu CS-25V1A-MB150DC, 12,000 btu CS-35V1A-PB150DC and 18,000 btuCS-53V2A-WB150D all provided by Guangdong CHIGO Air-Conditioning Co,LTD., of Foshan, Guangdong, China.

Exemplary Display Units 150

In some embodiments, the display unit may be a television, such as asmart TV having a wired or wireless network interface. In someembodiments, the display unit 150 may include an integrated speaker forplaying audio signals. Alternatively, or additionally, the system 100may include speakers and/or other audio equipment external to thedisplay unit 150. In operation, the display unit 150, under directionfrom the control unit 200, may show images and/or play audiocorresponding to a mode of operation of the heating and cooling unit140, such as images and audio of a fire when the system 100 is in aheating mode or images and audio of a waterfall when the system 100 isin a cooling mode of operation.

The display unit 150 may be coupled to an external side of the frontportion 115, such as at a mounting position 116. The display unit 150may be mounted in a variety of ways, such as via a standard televisionwall mount bracket. In some embodiments, the display unit may be movablymounted to the assembly 110, such as pivotably mounted to the assembly110 or may be outwardly extendable from the assembly 110. Other mountingconfigurations may be used.

Exemplary Control Units 200

Referring to FIG. 6, an exemplary physical architecture for an exemplarycontrol unit for use in the exemplary free-standing heating and coolingsystem 100 is shown. Although selected aspects, features, or componentsof the implementations are depicted as being stored in memories, all orpart of systems and methods consistent with the disclosed architecturemay be stored on, distributed across, or read from othermachine-readable media, for example, secondary storage devices such ashard disks, floppy disks, and CD-ROMs; a signal received from a network;other forms of ROM or RAM either currently known or later developed; andthe like.

Furthermore, although specific components of the control unit 200architecture will be described, methods, systems, and articles ofmanufacture consistent with disclosed architecture may includeadditional or different components. For example, a processor may beimplemented as a microprocessor, microcontroller, application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), discrete logic, or a combination of othertype of circuits or logic. Similarly, memories may be DRAM, SRAM, Flashor any other type of memory. Flags, data, databases, tables, and otherdata structures may be separately stored and managed, may beincorporated into a single memory or database, may be distributed, ormay be logically and physically organized in many different ways,including unstructured data. Programs may be parts of a single program,separate programs, or distributed across several memories andprocessors. Systems may be implemented in hardware, software, or acombination of hardware and software in one processing system ordistributed across multiple processing systems. For example, variousfunctionalities of the control unit 200 may be integrated into theheating and cooling unit 140, the display unit 150, or both.

In the illustrated embodiment, the control unit 200 may include amicrocontroller 210 coupled to a current sensor 212, temperature sensor214, network shield 216, one or more relay modules 218 and a wirelesstransceiver serial UART 220. Optionally, additional non-transient memory211, such as flash memory and the like, may be provided. The controlunit 200 also may include other components.

The microcontroller 210 may provide processing capabilities and/ortransient and/or non-transient memory for enabling the functionalitiesof the control unit 200 as described herein. In some embodiments,microcontroller 210 may be an ARDUINO board or module provided byArduino LLC, such as the ARDUINO UNO or ARDUINO MEGA. Othermicrocontrollers, such as the RASBERRY PI microcontroller provided bythe Raspberry Pi Foundation of Cambridge, England, also may be used.

The current sensor 212 may monitor measure any change in the amount ofcurrent running to various components of the system 100, such as todetect whether a component is in a powered-on or powered-off state. Insome embodiments, this signal may be used as an input signal to a relayto, for example, the heating and cooling unit 140 to turn the unit 140on off. The temperature/humidity sensor 214 may monitor the currenttemperature and/or humidity of the room in which the heating and coolingsystem 100 is placed. An exemplary temperature/humidity sensor is theARDUINO DHT22/AM2302 provided by Arduino LLC.

The network shield 216 may provide networking functionality to thecontrol unit 200. For example, the network shield 216 may add wirednetworking functionalities (such as Ethernet functionality), wirelessnetworking functionalities (such as wireless networking functionalitiesin accordance with the IEEE 802.11 standards), or both. For example, insome embodiments, the network shield 216 may be an ARDUINO W5100Ethernet shield and ARDUNIO W5100 Expansion Board for ARDUINO MEGA2560,all provided by Arduino LLC.

The relay modules 218 may provide wired control of other elements of thesystem, such as the display unit 150 and the heating and cooling unit140. The relay modules may be electronic switches that, for example,turn on and off the display unit 150. In some embodiments, the relaymodules 218 may comprise an ARDUINO four (4) channel relay module andARDUINO 5-volt four (4) Channel Relay Module Controller For ArduinoMega256, all provided by Arduino LLC.

The wireless transceiver serial UART 220 may enable communicationbetween the control unit and the heating and cooling unit 140, thedisplay unit 150, and/or the remote control 30. The communication may beunilateral or bi-lateral. For example, the remote control 30 maycommunicate command signals to the control unit 200 via the wirelesstransceiver 220, and the control unit 200 may, in turn, communicatecommands to the heating and cooling unit 140 to, for example, turn on oroff. In some embodiments, the relay modules 218 may comprise a C1101wireless transceiver provided by Arduino LLC.

Exemplary Power Circuits

Referring to FIGS. 7a -b, exemplary power circuits for use in theexemplary free-standing heating and cooling system 100 are shown. Inembodiment illustrated in FIG. 7 a, 110 volt alternate current powersources 310 and 312 may provide power directly to the display unit 150and heating and cooling unit 140, respectively. A five volt directcurrent adapter 320 may be used to couple the power source 310 to thecontrol unit 200. One or more relay modules 325 may be used to couplethe control unit 200 to the display unit 150 and the heating and coolingunit 140 in order to allow the control unit 200 to turn either unit 140and 150 on or off. A similar circuit is shown in FIG. 7b , except 220volt alternating current power sources 311 and 313 are used and a 220volt to 110 volt converter 315 is used to couple the power source 311 tothe control unit 200 and display unit 150.

Exemplary Input/Output Panels

In some embodiments, the exemplary free-standing heating and coolingsystem 100 may include an input/output panel 250 that provides one ormore input and/or output connectors coupled to the control unit 200, thedisplay unit 140 or another component of the system 100. Referring toFIG. 8, an exemplary input/output panel 250 is shown. In the illustratedembodiment, the panel 250 may include power plugs 252 for providingpower to the system 100, a VGA port 254 for receiving video signals froma computer or the like two sets of RCA jacks 256 and 258 for receivingvideo and audio signals, an HDMI plug 260 for receiving video and audiosignals, a coaxial cable connector 262 for receiving video and audiosignals, Ethernet ports 264 and 266 for connecting a network cable tothe control unit 200 and display unit 150, respectively and a UniversalSerial Bus (USB) port 268 for connecting USB-compliant devices to thecontrol unit 200, the display unit 150, or both.

More or less connectors/ports may be provided. For example, a number ofUSB ports 268 may be provided to enable simultaneous charging ofmultiple USB-compliant devices, such as cell phones and tabletcomputers. In some embodiments, the input/output panel 250 providesconnectors that mirror the input/output ports of the display unit 150,the controller 200, or both. Other types of input/output ports also maybe provided on input/output panel 250.

Heating and Cooling System Operating Environment

Referring now to FIG. 10, an exemplary physical architecture for anenvironment in which the exemplary free-standing heating and coolingsystem 100 may interoperate with exemplary devices is shown. In theillustrated embodiment, the heating and cooling system 100 maycommunication with one or more client devices that may run clientapplications 20 a-b, a remote control unit 30 and/or a heating andcooling management server 400 via a communications network 300 (shown asan exemplary Internet cloud).

The client applications 20 a-b may communication directly with theheating and cooling system 100 (such as over a local network) or maycommunication with the heating and cooling system 100 indirectly throughheating and cooling management server 400. In either case, the clientapplications 20 a-b may provide control commands and/or request heatingand cooling system 100 status and/or usage information. In response, theheating and cooling system 100 may receive the commands (directly orindirectly through server 400) and take a corresponding action.Similarly, historical usage information and the like may be provided bythe heating and cooling management server 400. The server 400 may storethis and other information in a database 450 and also may provide anadministration interface 460 that enables an administrator to interactwith the server 400.

Although references will now be made to specific components of thesystem performing specific features, it should be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art that such references are exemplary and are notintended to limit the scope of the claims in any way; furthermore, thefunctionalities described herein may be implemented in a virtuallyunlimited number of configurations. For example, although figurativelyattached to the heating and cooling management server 400, the database450 may, in practice, distribute user-specific and/or product-specificdata elements directly to one or more client applications 20 a and 20 b.Similarly, the heating and cooling management server 400 may beimplemented as a single server configured to provide all of the system'sfunctionalities, or the functionalities may be implemented acrossmultiple servers.

The client applications 20 a-b may provide a user interface for thesystem 100 and may communicate user profile and other information withthe heating and cooling management server 400 via communications network300. In one embodiment, client systems 20 a-b may comprise stand-aloneapplications which may be either platform dependent or platformindependent. For example, client systems 20 a-b may be stand-aloneapplications for a mobile phone configured to run on a mobile operatingsystem such as the iOS™ operating system from Apple Inc. located inCupertino, Calif., the Android™ operating system from Google, Inc.located in Mountain View, Calif., or the like. Alternatively, oradditionally, client systems 20 a-b may connect to the server 400 viathe Internet using a standard browser application. Alternatively, oradditionally, one or more of the client systems 20 a-b may be anapplication configured to run on a computer such as a desktop computer,a laptop computer, handheld computer, tablet, mobile messaging device,or the like which may all utilize different hardware and/or softwarepackages. Other methods may be used to implement the client applications20 a-b.

The communications network 300 may be any type any private or publiccommunication network, such as the Internet, and may include one or morecommunications networks. In some embodiments, the communications network300 may be the Internet, a local area network or the like.

Exemplary Heating and Cooling Management Servers

The heating and cooling management server 400 may store user profileinformation, device profile and/or usage information and relatedinformation in a database 450, receive and/or provide this informationand/or heating and cooling system 100 control commands from a clientapplication 20 a-b, communicate with various service providers (such asweather information providers), provide a user interface for anadministration application 460, and the like. In operation, the heatingand cooling management server 400 and client systems 20 a-b may, forexample, allow a user to register themselves and/or a heating andcooling system 100 with the heating and cooling management server 400,facilitate communications between a heating and cooling system 100 and aclient application 20 a-b, track and store usage data for a heating andcooling system 100, receive and facilitate processing of servicerequests and the like. As should be apparent to one of ordinary skill inthe art from the disclosure herein, other related services may also beprovided.

The database 450 may store a variety of information, including userprofile information, device profile information, service relatedinformation, and the like. In some embodiments, all information storedin the database 450 is encrypted.

In some embodiments, the heating and cooling management server 400 anddatabase 450 may comprise one or more instances of a GoDaddy™ VirtualPrivate Server (provided by GoDaddy Operating Company, LLC ofScottsdale, Ariz.) running the Windows Server 2012™ operating system(provided by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.) utilizing one ormore of relational databases and/or other storage mechanisms.

In some embodiments, the system 10 may include an administrationapplication 460. The administration application 460 may be provided bythe heating and cooling management server 400 to, for example, as astand-alone application running on a computer such as a workstationcomputer, laptop computer, handheld computer, tablet, mobile messagingdevice, or the like which may all utilize different hardware and/orsoftware packages. Alternatively, or additionally, administrationapplication 460 may connect to the heating and cooling management server400 via the Internet using a standard browser application. A browserbased implementation allows system features to be accessible regardlessof the underlying platform of the administration application 460. Othermethods may be used to implement the administration application 460. Inoperation, the administration application 460 may provide a frameworkthat allows an administrator to evaluate and process submitted productservice requests and the like. As should be apparent to one of ordinaryskill in the art from the disclosure herein, other related services mayalso be provided.

An exemplary functional architecture 405 for a heating and coolingmanagement server 400 is shown in FIG. 10. The architecture 405 mayinclude application level functionality 410, back-end serverfunctionality 420, and database functionality 440.

The application level functionality 410 may provide one or more userinterfaces that implement the administration interface 460 and/or clientinterfaces 20 a-b that allows an users and administrator to performvarious functions, such as those described herein. Databasefunctionality 230 provide mechanisms for storing and/or retrievinginformation from the database 450.

Back-end server functionality 420 may provide functions and controlmechanisms for implementing the heating and cooling management server400. In the illustrated embodiment, back-end server functionality 420includes the following: user and product registration functionality 422that enables a user to register themselves and/or a heating and coolingsystem 100 with the server 400; product control functionality 424 thatenables a user to operate a heating and cooling system 100; productstatus and/or usage information 426 about a heating and cooling system100; product service functionality 428 that enables a user to requestservice of a heating and cooling system 100 and/or enables anadministrator to review and/or process a service request and the like.

The hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) server 430 may be used tointerface the back-end functionality 420 with the application levelfunctionality 410. In some embodiments, the HTTP server 430 may be anApache HTTP Server (provided by the Apache Software Foundation), or anyother suitable HTTP server. Other communications servers may be used. Inoperation, HTTP server 430 may receive requests and/or information suchas user and/or product registration requests, control commands and/orsubmissions of requests for service of a heating and cooling system 100from user clients 20 a-b, processes the information and take appropriateactions in conjunction with the user registration functionality 422,product control functionality 424 and/or product service functionality428, and provides responses to the user clients 20 a-b. The HTTP server430 also may receive status and/or usage information from and/or providecommands to a heating and cooling system 100 and process the informationand/or take appropriate action in conjunction with the product controlfunctionality 424 and product status/usage functionality 426. The HTTPserver 430 also may receive requests and/or information from anadministrator application 460, process the information and takeappropriate action in conjunction with the product service functionality428, and provide information and/or responses to the administratorapplication 460.

Alternatively, or additionally, an Application Programming Interface(API) may be provided to interface some or all of the back-endfunctionality 420 with the application level functionality 410.

Reviewing User Registration

The user and product registration functionality 422 may provide aframework for registering a user and/or a heating and cooling system 100with the heating and cooling management server 400. FIG. 11 shows aflowchart for an exemplary user and/or product registration process1100. A user may launch a client application (or app) 20 a at step 1102.For example, the user may download a client application 20 a from theAPP STORE for mobile devices running the iOS operating system (both ofwhich are provided by Apple, Inc. located in Cupertino, Calif.) or fromthe GOOGLE PLAY STORE for devices running the Android operating system(both of which are provided by Google, Inc. located in Mountain View,Calif.) and run the application 20 a on their corresponding device.Alternatively, or additionally, the user may launch a client application20 b through a standard web browser.

Next, the user may enter user and/or product registration information atstep 1104. The user may enter registration information including, forexample, a first name, a last name, a zip code, a date of birth, anemail address, a password (which may need to be entered twice forconfirmation purposes), a product serial number and an authenticationquestion. More or less information may be included and/or required. Insome embodiments, the user may be required to agree to certainprovisions, such as a Terms of Service and/or Privacy Policy 916. Oncethe information is complete, the user may submit the registrationinformation to the heating and cooling management server 400 at step1106.

In response to receiving user registration information, the heating andcooling management server 400 may send a user registration code to theuser at step 1108. For example, the user registration code may be sentvia an email to an email address included in the user registrationinformation. Alternatively, or additionally, the device registrationcode may be sent by the heating and cooling management server 400 as atext message or other methods. The client application 20 a may provide auser registration screen that provides user interface controls thatenable the user to enter the user registration code at step 1110. Theuser may enter the code at step 1112 and the client application 20 a maytransmit the user registration code to the heating and coolingmanagement server 400. In response, the server 400 may validate the codeand register the user and/or product at step 1114.

Once registered, a user may log into the system 10 via a clientapplication 20 a-b. In some embodiments, upon logging in, a user may bepresented with a variety of ways to access the functionality of theserver 400. For example, a screen shot of a user dashboard 1200 is shownin FIG. 12. The user may select to view and/or edit their profilesettings via control 1202, view current status information 1210, reviewhistorical usage information 1220, control a heating and cooling system100 via controls 1230 (such as a power on control 1232 and a power offcontrol 1234, view system information 1240 or view weather information1250.

The user profile may include information about the user and/or anyregistered systems 100 associated with the user. For example, the userprofile information may include a first name, last name, zip code, city,state and country information, email address, phone number, a passwordand/or one or more associated heating and cooling systems 100.Additional information also may be included in the user profile.

The current status information 1210 may indicate current statusinformation for a heating and cooling system 100. For example, this mayinclude the room temperature 1212 of the room in which the unit 100 islocated, a humidity level for the in which the unit 100 is located, acurrent date and/or time, and device 100 status information, such as amode of operation and/or other current settings of the device 100.

The historical usage information 1220 may various usage statistics for adevice, such as previous settings of a device 100, average temperaturesettings and/or measured temperature values 1222, average humiditysettings and/or measured humidity values 1224, electricity usagestatistics 1226, combined charts 1228 that include one or more oftemperature, humidity and electricity usage information, and the like.Other information, such as information about an outstanding or historicservice requests, also may be included. The general system informationmay include notifications 1242 (such as service requests, notices ofactivity (such as turning the system 100 on or off, and the like),messages 1244 (such as promotional offers and the like) and alerts 1246(such as service warnings, system updates and the like).

Controlling a Heating and Cooling System 100

As noted above, a heating and cooling system 100 may be controlled by aremote control unit 30 and/or by a client application 20 a, eitherdirectly or through the control unit 200 and/or the heating and coolingmanagement server 400. For example, in some embodiments, the remotecontrol 30 may transmit wireless radio wave signals to the control unit200, which in turn may transmit a corresponding command to the heatingand cooling unit 140 over a wireless (such as an infrared blaster or thelike) or wired (such as a direct relay connection or the like)communication link and/or to the display unit 150 (via similarmechanisms).

In some embodiments, all controls may be provided across all of thecontrol methods, such as the remote control 30 and the clientapplications 20 a-b. In other embodiments, some controls may beaccessible only through a particular control method. In someembodiments, the remote control 30 and/or client application 20 a-b mayprovide any or all of the functions provided by a manufacturer's remotecontrol for the heating and cooling unit 140, the display unit 150, orboth. More or less control options may be provided.

The remote control 30 may include a variety of technologies, such as atouchscreen, dedicated or programmable buttons, selector switches andthe like. Referring to FIG. 13, an exemplary physical architecture foran exemplary remote control unit 30 for use in the exemplaryfree-standing heating and cooling system 100 is shown. Although selectedaspects, features, or components of the implementations are depicted asbeing stored in memories, all or part of systems and methods consistentwith the disclosed architecture may be stored on, distributed across, orread from other machine-readable media, for example, secondary storagedevices such as hard disks, floppy disks, and CD-ROMs; a signal receivedfrom a network; other forms of ROM or RAM either currently known orlater developed; and the like.

Furthermore, although specific components of the remote control unit 30architecture will be described, methods, systems, and articles ofmanufacture consistent with disclosed architecture may includeadditional or different components. For example, a processor may beimplemented as a microprocessor, microcontroller, application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), discrete logic, or a combination of othertype of circuits or logic. Similarly, memories may be DRAM, SRAM, Flashor any other type of memory. Flags, data, databases, tables, and otherdata structures may be separately stored and managed, may beincorporated into a single memory or database, may be distributed, ormay be logically and physically organized in many different ways,including unstructured data. Programs may be parts of a single program,separate programs, or distributed across several memories andprocessors. Systems may be implemented in hardware, software, or acombination of hardware and software in one processing system ordistributed across multiple processing systems. For example, variousfunctionalities of the remote control unit 30 may be integrated into thecontrol unit 200, the heating and cooling unit 140, the display unit150, or any combination thereof.

In the illustrated embodiment, the remote control unit 30 may include amicrocontroller 350 coupled to a temperature/humidity sensor 352, athin-film transistor (TFT) shield and TFT screen 354, and a wirelesstransceiver serial UART 356. Optionally, additional non-transient memory351, such as flash memory and the like, may be provided. The remotecontrol unit 30 also may include other components.

The microcontroller 350 may provide processing capabilities and/ortransient and/or non-transient memory for enabling the functionalitiesof the remote control unit 30 as described herein. In some embodiments,microcontroller 210 may be an ARDUINO board or module provided byArduino LLC, such as the ARDUINO UNO or ARDUINO MEGA. Othermicrocontrollers, such as the RASBERRY PI microcontroller provided bythe Raspberry Pi Foundation of Cambridge, England, also may be used.

The temperature/humidity sensor 352 may monitor the current temperatureand/or humidity of the room in which the remote control unit 30 islocated. An exemplary temperature/humidity sensor is the ARDUINODHT22/AM2302 provided by Arduino LLC.

The TFT shield 354 may provide functionality to the control a TFTtouchscreen display unit that acts to provide interface controls,receive input from a user, display status and other information and thelike. In some embodiments, the TFT shield 354 may be an TFT 2.4 shieldfor Arduino Mega or Uno with SPFD5408 Controller provided by ShenzhenScience and Technology Dewo Luopu Ltd. of Guangdong Province, China.

The wireless transceiver serial UART 356 may enable communicationbetween the remote control unit and the control unit 200, the heatingand cooling unit 140, the and/or the display unit 150. The communicationmay be unilateral or bi-lateral. For example, the remote control 30 maycommunicate command signals to the control unit 200 via the wirelesstransceiver 220, and the control unit 200 may, in turn, communicatecommands to the heating and cooling unit 140 to, for example, turn on oroff. In some embodiments, the relay modules 218 may comprise a C1101wireless transceiver provided by Arduino LLC.

Referring to FIGS. 14a -e, exemplary screen shots of a remote controldevice 30 are shown. FIG. 14a shows a main menu control screen 1400 ahaving various interface elements that allow user to operate a heatingand cooling system 100. In the illustrated embodiment, the main controlscreen 1400 a may include interface elements 1402 and 1404 for turningthe system 100 on and off, respectively. Elements 1406 and 1408 also maybe provided to allow a user to view current temperature information andfor advanced control, respectively. For example, in response to a userselection of element 1406, a temperature inspection screen 1400 b (shownin FIG. 14b ) may be displayed. The temperature inspection screen 1400 bmay display the current temperature of the room as measured by thetemperature/humidity sensor 352 in the remote control 30 in both Celsius1420 and Fahrenheit 1422. A user may refresh/reacquire temperaturereadings or may return to the main menu by selecting the correspondinginterface elements 1424 and 1426, respectively.

Upon selection of the advanced control element 1408 from the main menu,an advanced control screen 1400 c may be displayed. The advanced controlscreen 1400 c may include various interface elements to enable a user tocontrol the heating and cooling unit 140, the display unit 150 and/orthe control unit 200. An exemplary advanced control screen 1400 c isshown in FIG. 14c . In the illustrated embodiment, the advanced controlscreen 1400 c includes interface elements that allow a user to controlthe heating and cooling system 140 via the control unit 200. Theadvanced control screen 1400 c may include a mode selector 1430 that mayallow a user to select between various modes of operation for theheating and cooling unit 140, such as an auto cool mode, a dry mode, aheat mode, and a fan mode. Indicia 1432 may be provided to indicate thecurrently selected mode. Fan speed controls 1434 and 1436, temperaturecontrols 1442 and 1444 and humidity controls 1452 and 1454 may beprovided to allow a user respectively to raise or lower the fan speed,temperature and/or humidity setting(s) of the heating and cooling unit140. The user may return to the main menu 1400 a by selecting thecorresponding interface element 1460.

Product service controls also may be provided via the main menu 1400 a.In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 14a , a user may select to view aproduct manual, such as a user manual or service manual by selectinginterface element 1410. In addition, a user may request technicalsupport by selecting element 1412.

A flow chart for an exemplary process for receiving and processingproduct support requests for an exemplary free-standing heating andcooling system 100 is shown in FIG. 15. A user may select a supportinterface element at step 1502, such as element 1412 shown in FIG. 14a .In response, the user may be prompted to indicate a preferred contactmethod, such as email, text message or the like. For example, a requestselection screen 1400 d may be shown. In the illustrated embodiment,selection of interface elements 1470 and 1472 may cause a supportrequest to be transmitted to the heating and cooling management server400 indicating a communication preference of either email contact orphone contact, respectively, at step 1506. Optionally, the user may beinformed that the request was submitted via a confirmation screen, suchas confirmation screen 1400 e shown in FIG. 14 e.

Next, the heating and cooling management server 400 may generate asupport event (also referred to as a support ticket) based on therequest at step 1508. In some embodiment, step 1508 may include addedthe support event to a list of support events. An exemplary list ofsupport tickets 1600 is shown in FIG. 16. The list 1600 may include, foreach support ticket, a device serial number 1602, a creation date 1604and time 1606, and the type of support requested 1508 (such as acommunication preference). Other information, such as an assignedtechnical representative also may be included.

An administrator may access the list 1600 through the administratorinterface 460 and may assign the ticket to a technician that may followup with the requesting user via their preferred contact method at step1510. The technician may continue to follow-up with the customer untilthe issue is resolved at step 1512. Once resolved, the ticket may becleared from the list 1600 at step 1514.

While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it willbe apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many moreembodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except inlight of the attached claims and their equivalents.

1. A system for heating and cooling a space, comprising: a housingassembly including an inside; a heating and cooling unit for providingheating and cooling functions, the heating and cooling unit having aheating mode of operation in which a heating function is provided and acooling mode of operation in which a cooling function is provided, theheating and cooling unit mounted at least partially inside the housing,the heating and cooling unit being a ductless heating and cooling unit;a display unit for displaying static images, video, or both; and acontrol unit coupled to the heating and cooling unit and the displayunit, the control unit operative to cause an image or video associatedwith heat to be displayed on the display unit when the heating andcooling unit is in the heating mode of operation and to cause an imageor video associated with coolness to be displayed on the display unitwhen the heating and cooling unit is in the cooling mode of operation.2. The system of claim 1, where the housing assembly includes a sidemember having an aperture, the system further comprising: a bracketmounted in the aperture; and an air filter mounted in the filterbracket.
 3. The system of claim 1, further comprising an input/outputpanel comprising a plurality of input/output connectors coupled to thecontrol unit, the display unit, or both.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherethe input/output connectors include connectors selected from the groupcomprising an HDMI connector, a coaxial connector and a USB connector.5. The system of claim 1, where the housing assembly further includes adecorative façade.
 6. The system of claim 5, where the housing assemblysimulates the appearance of a fire place.
 7. The system of claim 1,where the housing assembly includes a top and where the heating andcooling unit is mounted at least about 4 inches from the top.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, where the housing assembly includes a top, two sides,a front, a back and a base, and where the top, the two sides and thefront comprise a first unit and the base and the back comprise a secondunit.
 9. The system of claim 8, where the first unit includes at leastone mounting member having a first shape and where the second unitincludes at least one complimentary mounting member that engages the atleast one mounting member of the first unit to couple the first unit tothe second unit.
 10. The system of claim 1 further comprising a remotecontrol unit for controlling the operation of the heating and coolingunit, the remote control including a temperature sensor for measuring anambient temperature of a room.
 11. The system of claim 1, where thecontrol unit includes a temperature sensor for measuring an ambienttemperature of a room.
 12. The system of claim 1, where control unitincludes networking capabilities for communicating over a communicationsnetwork.
 13. The system of claim 12 further comprising a first softwaremodule for use on a server computer, the first software module includinginstructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that:transmit control signals to the control unit to direct the operation ofthe heating and cooling unit.
 14. The system of claim 13, where thefirst software module further includes instructions that receive currenttemperature information from the control unit.
 15. The system of claim14, where the first software module further includes instructions thattrack historical temperature information based on the temperatureinformation received from the control unit.
 16. The system of claim 13further comprising a second software module for use on a client device,the second software module including instructions stored on anon-transitory computer readable medium that: transmit control signalsfor directing the operation of the heating and cooling unit to theserver computer; and where the first software module further includesinstructions that: receive the control signals from the second softwaremodule and, in response, transmit control signals to the control unit todirect the operation of the heating and cooling unit.
 17. A system forheating and cooling a space, comprising: a housing assembly simulatingthe appearance of a fireplace, the housing assembly including a top, twosides, a front, a back, a base and a decorative façade, the top, the twosides and the front comprising a first unit and the base and the backcomprising a second unit, the first unit including at least one mountingmember having a first shape, the second unit including at least onecomplimentary mounting member that engages the at least one mountingmember of the first unit to couple the first unit to the second unit; aheating and cooling unit for providing heating and cooling functions,the heating and cooling unit having a heating mode of operation in whicha heating function is provided and a cooling mode of operation in whicha cooling function is provided, the heating and cooling unit mounted atleast partially inside the housing; a display unit for displaying staticimages, video, or both; and a control unit coupled to the heating andcooling unit and the display unit, the control unit operative to causean image or video associated with heat be displayed on the display unitwhen the heating and cooling unit is in the heating mode of operationand to cause an image or video associated with coolness be displayed onthe display unit when the heating and cooling unit is in the coolingmode of operation.
 18. The system of claim 17, where the control unitincludes a temperature sensor for measuring an ambient temperature of aroom and networking capabilities for communicating over a communicationsnetwork, the system further comprising a first software module for useon a server computer, the first software module including instructionsstored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that: transmitcontrol signals to the control unit to direct the operation of theheating and cooling unit.
 19. The system of claim 18 further comprisinga second software module for use on a client device, the second softwaremodule including instructions stored on a non-transitory computerreadable medium that: transmit control signals for directing theoperation of the heating and cooling unit to the server computer; andwhere the first software module further includes instructions that:receive the control signals from the second software module and, inresponse, transmit control signals to the control unit to direct theoperation of the heating and cooling unit.
 20. A system for heating andcooling a space, comprising: a housing assembly including an inside; aheating and cooling unit for providing heating and cooling functions,the heating and cooling unit having a heating mode of operation in whicha heating function is provided and a cooling mode of operation in whicha cooling function is provided, the heating and cooling unit mounted atleast partially inside the housing; a display unit for displaying staticimages, video, or both; a control unit coupled to the heating andcooling unit and the display unit, the control unit operative to causean image or video associated with heat be displayed on the display unitwhen the heating and cooling unit is in the heating mode of operationand to cause an image or video associated with coolness be displayed onthe display unit when the heating and cooling unit is in the coolingmode of operation, the control unit including a temperature sensor formeasuring an ambient temperature of a room and networking capabilitiesfor communicating over a communications network; a first software modulefor use on a client device, the first software module includinginstructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that:transmit control signals for directing the operation of the heating andcooling unit to the server computer; and a second software module foruse on a server computer, the second software module includinginstructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that:receive control signals from the first software module and, in response,transmit control signals to the control unit to direct the operation ofthe heating and cooling unit transmit control signals to the controlunit to direct the operation of the heating and cooling unit.